Framework Convention on Climate Change
Adoption of the Paris Agreement December 12, 2015 In combating climate change, the Agreement emphasizes “should” rather than “must,” which is to say that it is voluntary. It calls for recognition of social justice, for sharing technology, and for wealthier countries...
Ethnic Cleansing Goes Mainstream: Donald Trump and Our Christmas Wish
I recall a movie from the Cold War days. A device was discovered that had the power to make bad people disappear. After giving consideration to the merits of this power, it was used to make all the Commies disappear—Russians, Eastern Europeans, probably...
November 10 Evening Nature Discussion Group
Third and Fourth in a series of Setonian Evenings 6:30 - 8:00 pm at the Seton Gallery, Academy for the Love of Learning Tuesday November 10 and Tuesday December 8, 2015 Free 133 Seton Village Road (off the Old Las Vegas Highway) www.aloveoflearning.org Host: David L....
Passages
Lakeside dispatch from David L. Witt/August 2, 2015 {In late July and early August I led an expedition to Aylmer Lake in the Canadian Arctic. We were following part of the route taken by Ernest Thompson Seton and his expedition of 1907. Field notes from the expedition...
Measurements of Scale
Lakeside dispatch from David L. Witt/August 1, 2015 {In late July and early August I led an expedition to Aylmer Lake in the Canadian Arctic. We were following part of the route taken by Ernest Thompson Seton and his expedition of 1907. Field notes from the expedition...
Observations on a Place of Contrasts
Lakeside dispatch from David L. Witt/July 27, 2015/3:00pm {In late July and early August I led an expedition to Aylmer Lake in the Canadian Arctic. We were following part of the route taken by Ernest Thompson Seton and his expedition of 1907. Field notes from the...
Understanding Consequences of the Unpredictable
I subtitled my book on generally true patterns “A New Natural History of Recognizing Ourselves as a Part of Nature.” I used that phrase to express the combination of my observations of wild nature with the useful analysis of systems philosophy. Maybe instead I...
Zakaria, Gates and CNN’s GPS (Global Phooey Square)
In a surprisingly insensitive and insincere interview aired by CNN on May 17, 2015, Fareed Zakaria interviewed Bill Gates. Mr. Gates made three main points during their extensive talk. 1) The American middle class is today better than it was 20 years ago. 2)...
Sage-Grouse and National Defense Budget
The PBS Nature series aired a program on the endangered Sage-grouse on May 20. The natural history of this bird and other denizens of the sagebrush plains was well represented. The documentary even mentioned habitat destruction by oil and gas interests. Very daring of...
Earth Day – Day of Mourning Not Celebration
The annual Day of Mourning occurs on Wednesday April 22 this year. I recall the excitement around the first Earth Day in 1970. Environmentalist Senator Gaylord Nelson (defeated by a non-environmentalist Republican ten years later) and a cynical Nixon White House...